Someone else laughed shortly. "Maybe he just likes to make it tough on himself. Hey, look out! The joes."
As the crowd faded into the nowhere from whence most of it had come, a guard approached Stan warily.
"Now, look, Graham," he said cautiously, "I gotta throw you in the hole. You know that, huh?"
Stan nodded listlessly.
"Yeah," he said. "I suppose so."
"Look, fellow, it won't be too long. He jumped you, so they'll have you out of there real soon." The guard was apologetic.
"Besides, they'll probably offer you his job at Janzel. Get you clear out of here. Only don't give me a hard time. All you'll get is both of us flashed."
"Yeah, I know." Stan held out an arm. "Come on, let's go."
Stan watched as the chief test engineer waved a hand.